All That Capricorn: January 16 2018 New Moon Astrology & More

This month brings us the year’s blue moon, one of which doubles as a lunar eclipse. The lunar energy seems like it could get really zany, but we’re all saved by a decidedly more rare event: six planets in the sign of Capricorn all at once, mid-month, and zero retrograde planets.

The month began with the full moon stimulating a grand water trine with Mars in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces. Since the moon opposed Venus, the tone setting is about our needs, and relinquishing obligations to tend to our more intimate and internal evolution.

GREEN LIGHTS AHEAD

Uranus has turned direct, bringing us to a tally of absolutely no retrograde planets. Make no mistakes: this is a go signal. Retrogrades are about stopping and reflecting. With none of them in play, the move is to do what you think is right, because you’ve already thought about it enough. I repeat: you do not need to cower in self-doubt or re-analyze the situation that’s on your mind. The stars are telling you to just trust yourself and try.

If you needed any more encouragement, it’s coming right up on Saturday, January 6th, when Mars conjuncts Jupiter. Both planets are in Scorpio, where Mars especially brings an air of effectiveness. As the planet that rules our drive aligns with the planet that rules our growth, the message is one that encourages action. Forget seeking validation of your instincts, and just trust them. Whatever you have the urge to go for right now is the right move. Take your shot – you’re not going to be punished for it, and there is no background conflict, ulterior motive or lesson to be learned here, except the regret of not going for it at all.

Did you need more convincing? Next week kicks off with an extraordinarily rare event – a triple conjunction featuring the Sun, Venus, and Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto gives whatever events it effects a fated touch, and Venus brings blessing and charm, particularly when it comes to love, social affairs, and money dealings. With the Sun highlighting the same areas that pique our interests at this time, the conjunction is a powerful, passionate send-off from self-doubt. It says, yet again, that whatever you are driven to right now is waiting, hand outstretched, and that there is no punishment for wanting more from life than you’ve gotten lately. Mars remains in a supportive position here, propelling the entire dynamic and rewarding those who take action.

THE CATCH

Now, while you’re sitting here getting excited as the cogs turn about which Important Thing in your life this could possibly allude to, here is my warning to you. This month is one of those special windows in astrology that it does best not to ruminate on. I can sit here and tell you that there is a golden opportunity laying at your feet, but that is a poor description. It makes it seem that the thing you want is going to fall into your lap.

That is not ever the case in astrology. You are not a marionette on whose strings the planets are pulling. If you’re thinking about how to use the month as you read this, but you’re feeling inadequately prepared, or you’re already hoping I’m going to come back and tell you the same thing in February, or you’re gearing up to procrastinate through the perfect date and then be like “oops better wait till the next one,” my advice to you is not to continue sitting around. Attempting to alphabetize and color-code and perfectly align your ducks will not help you. Your ducks are in a fine-enough row for this given scenario as is, so get going, and stop worrying about how well you’ve squared up your plans up to this point in time. The past is untouchable, and the time for forward movement is now.

A better metaphor for this cosmic energy than a “gift” would be a clear playing field. The goal is wide open, and everyone else is distracted. If you want to go for The Thing, there is nothing in particular in your way, and now is probably one of the best times you’ll have. If you want to sleep through it, that is also fine, and completely your choice. The universe is not going to text you twelve times and prod you about whether you’ve eaten dinner and ask if you can rally and maybe meet it by like, 12. Instead, it’s saying, if the only thing keeping you home is your concern about your readiness, it’s better to just show up underdressed. Because this is the kind of time when things just Work Out, and no one really notices that you’ve already worn those pants this week, and you end up having a great time.

Other important, yet obvious note: you also should not misinterpret this as a green light for whatever the hell you want. This opportunity provides success within the boundaries you’ve already given yourself, based on what you have already done. What I am saying is that you have the potential to perform at your possible best right now, so you should not give in to self-doubt, and you should not sell yourself short or sit out an opportunity that’s on your mind.

THE NEW MOON IN CAPRICORN (& EVERYTHING ELSE TOO)

Right around the 16th, we have a New Moon in Capricorn, bringing 6 celestial bodies all into one space. This new moon throws a spotlight on newcomer Saturn and its journey through Capricorn, which is just beginning. But more so, the supercharge of planets at this space kicks off a time when you can harness a ton of energy towards a certain goal. The cosmic degrees in play are pointing towards a journey that will continue to evolve and sum up over the next two years, so it is a really pertinent little new moon, even though it isn’t a Super Pink Wolf Double Grand Harvest Eclipse or whatever.

Capricorn (and the planets it will harbor at this time) is all about setting yourself up for the long term, so the energy here is especially “sticky.” If you have problems committing or feeling secure in giving your all, this is the perfect lunation to change your pattern and draw in something new that’s going to stay around awhile. Take this time to prime your brain with your intentions for the future. And again, stop doubting your desire. You already spent half of 2017 thinking about what’s in your best interests. Trust what you’ve come to, and use this energy to take yourself closer to it.

The rest of the month brings us our yearly scheduled Aquarian weirdness and a big, dramatic eclipse – to be touched on by itself later in the month. For now, use this guide to pinpoint the Thing In Your Life best served by the energy I’ve described above. Happy New Year!

SIGN BY SIGN PREVIEW

Here’s a guide for figuring out what parts of your life are involved in the New Moon & Capricorn Stellium energy this month! These are less horoscopes and more meant to spark ideas about how to use your own resources and serve yourself well.

Aries Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: your career, authority, and Responsibility. The new, more serious Aries that you’re bringing to the world in 2018. Being taken seriously. Making big commitments. Biting off more than you think you can chew. Entering into the public or being scrutinized or examined. You’ve actually got this, this time around.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: the shared assets of your deepest personal partnerships; any material or emotional resources you share; debt and owed or borrowed money; sexual energy, your sexuality, or any relationships or communities you belong to that are in part related to sexuality

Taurus Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: Big Ideas. Academics, schoolwork, or applications to schools. Relationships with professors and religious advisors. Religion – not in the sense of private spirituality so much as that which is thought about, reasoned with, or studied, sometimes with others. Philosophy. Anything that makes you geek out and research in your free time. Teaching and being taught. Self-teaching new skills and ideas. Traveling far and wide, or spending a lot of time with people who are different from you. Foreign ways of being. Ideals of justice.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your most important relationships and partnerships, or the ones you wish you had that you lack.

Cancer Sun & Rising

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your creativity, your passions, and your art; your need to play and any games you enjoy; your childlike wonder; your inner child; Performance and how you like to put on a good one; children and the young people in your life; your “babies” whether real or the things and projects you care for and give life to

Leo Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: your health, mental and physical. Your day to day routines. The way you spend your time. Work – less in the sense of odd jobs, nor in the sense of big career moves, but the things you do most of the time and the scenarios in which you do them. Workplace dynamics and deference, or the flow of your work and your control over what you get done. Service to others that you provide or give. Your pets.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your home and family, and how they set you up well for these endeavors, or interfere with your daily functioning.

Virgo Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: Your creativity, and the things you want to make or bring into the world, whatever they may be. The projects and people most near and dear to your heart.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: the way you communicate. The way you understand other people and the way they understand you. Your immediate surroundings and neighborhood. Associates, siblings, passing faces, and other people you normally overlook. The ideas you constantly think about or can’t get out of your mind. Little things that excite you or spark interest and joy that you haven’t yet integrated into other parts of your life, art, or work.

Libra Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: all matters of the home and family. The deepest trenches of your self and memory and identity and historicity that no one else sees. Your most private self. Old wounds that need tending to. The physical space you live in and how it serves you. Your comfort, and how you provide comfort for yourself, materially and emotionally.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your values and the way that you value yourself. Things that you work on because you love them or because they help you see yourself the way you want to be seen, rather than because they provide you with any special security. The inherent values you naturally possess and the security they will always provide you with.

Scorpio Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: Your ideas and the things that you want to do that constantly make your mind race. The way you can communicate those things to others. Your immediate surroundings and how you navigate and influence them. Small interests you’d like to pursue more deeply or more often, or new ideas you want to explore and learn about. Short-term destinations or little vacations from routine.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: you, and how you can trust and rely on yourself. You, and how you come off to other people.

Sagittarius Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: your self-value. The transactions you’re willing to make with your heart, time, and money. The ways that other people are indebted to you and how you want them to pay it back. Getting what you’re really owed, materially and emotionally. Making sure your psychic debts are truly settled, and that you are taking in tandem with what you’re giving. Providing enough for yourself. Setting yourself up to be secure.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your faith and trust, or lack thereof. The ways you get in your own way, cut yourself off, or step on your own toes. The ways you compel yourself towards sacrifice or martyrdom. Ways that you avert blame, especially self-blame. Ways in which you take on a bigger load so that you feel you have the right to express your emotions (by complaining, which is viewed with less stigma than boasting.) Ways in which you’re afraid to admit fault or shame.

Capricorn Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: anything that serves the Brand New Capricorn.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your friends, especially online friends; your communities and hobbies; your networks and mutual friends; your social media presence and digital spaces you enjoy; your political leanings and the people you share them with; the people you’re inspired by, whether they’re near or far to you

Aquarius Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: The ways you hamper your own vision and hinder your own achievements. The ways you pull the rug out from under yourself. The skeletons in your mental closet. Your faith, and what you really believe in. Ways that you tend to dissolve yourself or sacrifice yourself, or ways in which you’re interested in giving more of yourself over.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: the most visible parts of you that come to people’s minds when they consider you. Your career or chosen trajectory in life. Your plans and goals for the future.

Pisces Sun & Rising

You’ve got a spotlight on: your friends and communities and networks. Your presence on social media, in digital communities, or other interests you have that utilize technology and new media. Your political ideals and organizing. Your giving nature, or your empathy for other groups of people.

Look to and utilize these elements of your life and self that support this mission or will help you amend it: your education and how you can expand it. Religious ideals, academic study, self-teaching, or travel, and how these can influence your belief systems and ideas. Your belief systems and ideas, and how these can influence your actions. The alignment of your goals, interests and admiration with your will to achieve, act, and get things done. Teachers and wise people you look up to. Your own wisdom, and the teachings that you have to offer others.